1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image reading device which includes a movable reading unit configured to read an image of an original document. The present invention also relates to a recording device used in combination with the image reading device.
2. Related Art
As an exemplary recording device which may be used in combination with such an image reading device, a multi-functional device described in JP-A-2010-41481 has been proposed. An image reading device of this multi-functional device includes a transparent plate on which, on the side of a first surface thereof, an original document may be placed and includes a reading unit configured to read an image of the original document while moving, on the side of a second surface of the transparent plate, in parallel with the transparent plate. On the image reading device, an original document transport device is disposed to cover the entire first surface of the transparent plate.
The original document transport device may pivot between a closed position and an open position: in the closed position, the original document transport device is disposed over the image reading device to cover the transparent plate; in the open position, the transparent plate is uncovered. In the closed position, the original document transport device transports an original document from a paper feeding unit to a paper output unit via a partial area of the transparent plate. The partial area of the transparent plate corresponds to an exposure area through which an image on the original document transported by the original document transport device is exposed to the reading unit during transportation. When the original document transport device is in the open position, the original document is placed on the transparent plate or removed from the transparent plate by a user.
The reading unit reads, while moving, an image of the original document placed on the transparent plate via the transparent plate. The reading unit reads an image of the original document while moving in a first reading area corresponding to a placement area of the original document on the transparent plate. When the original document transport device is in the closed position, the reading unit reads the transported original document in the following manner. The reading unit, stopped in a second reading area corresponding to the exposure area which is the partial area of the transparent plate, reads an image of the original document passing above the exposure area while being transported by the original document transport device. That is, the reading unit reads an image of the original document placed on the side of the first surface of the transparent plate by moving to either of the first reading area or to the second reading area on the side of the second surface of the transparent plate. The reading unit performs a predetermined standby operation at a predetermined standby position when not performing a reading operation of an image of the original document. The standby position in this case is situated in an area between the first reading area and the second reading area (a standby position defining area).
A transport path along which the original document is transported from the paper feeding unit to the paper output unit via an area above the exposure area which is the partial area of the transparent plate in the original document transport device inverts the front and back sides of the original document in a process in which the original document is transported from the paper feeding unit to the paper output unit. For this reason, the transport path includes, in an intermediate portion thereof, an inverting path which is U-shaped in cross section when seen in a side view.
On the side of the first surface of the transparent plate, the position of the inverting path is not situated, on the transparent plate, above any of the exposure area, the placement area of the original document and the standby position defining area of the reading unit. That is, the reading unit is not moved toward an area below the inverting path in the image reading device. Therefore, in the image reading device, the area below the inverting path has been a wasted space.
Such a situation is not particular to the multi-functional device described above but is commonly seen in image reading devices including a movable reading unit which reads an image of an original document and recording devices used in combination with these image reading devices.